On a device with a touch screen, selecting some text is easy to accomplish with a pen (also referred to as a stylus). However, to copy the selected text to another location typically requires the user to access a menu twice: the first time for selecting a Copy command, and second time for selecting a Paste command. This can become a tedious activity that reduces the user's efficiency and his general satisfaction with the text editing/manipulation application.
It is known that a Copy button and a Paste button can be provided on a toolbar in some cases to facilitate access to these commands. However, the presence of these buttons cannot be guaranteed for all possible platforms and applications. Furthermore, in the case of relatively small handheld devices, wherein display screen area is physically constrained (e.g., such as in cellular telephone and personal digital assistant (PDA) types of handheld devices), the provision of Copy and Paste control buttons would reduce the amount of screen area that is available to applications.
In a device that has a full keyboard the copy and paste operations may be accomplished using shortcut keys. However, not all users have knowledge of shortcut keys. Furthermore, if using shortcut keys while inputting with a pen the user may be required to shift his focus between the keyboard and the writing tablet/touch screen, which can result in reduced efficiency and an increased probability of making an erroneous input.